Stolen Vehicle Involved in Attempt to Elude Police and Collision
The Cedar Rapids Police Department received a report of a stolen vehicle from the 700 block of 19th Street SE at 5:49 a.m. this morning. The owner had apparently left the keys in the vehicle.
At 6:36 a.m. the stolen vehicle was spotted and an officer initiated a traffic stop near the 300 block of 3rd Street SW. After the stolen vehicle was stopped, the driver then took off in the stolen vehicle going the wrong direction of travel on 3rd Street SW. The driver then went south into the northbound lane of U.S. Interstate 380. Officers terminated the pursuit when the stolen vehicle went the wrong way on the Interstate.
The driver of the stolen vehicle exited at Wilson Avenue SW, where the driver struck an Alliant Energy truck. The Alliant Energy employee was not injured. The driver of the stolen vehicle was transported to a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver of the stolen vehicle has been identified as Christopher Coady, DOB/11-17-1980, age 36. Coady is being charged with Theft-2nd Degree, Attempting to Elude, No Driver's License, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Failure to Obey Traffic Signal Device, Failure to Maintain Control, Speeding, and Violation of One-Way Designation.
Coady also had outstanding warrants for Revocation of Probation for Assault Domestic Abuse-Strangulation and Burglary-2nd Degree.
Any arrest information included above is based on the legal conclusion that, as with any criminal case, a charge is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
